In the consumer electronics business, significant attention is given to power consumption which has led to guidelines as to how much power is to be consumed. The guiding principal is that less than 1 Watt is to be used while a device is in standby.
These guidelines also apply to streaming media receivers, such as set top boxes for Internet Protocol television (IPTV). In a standby mode at less than 1 W, there is minimum activity that can take place in a streaming media receiver. Such activities can include: monitoring infrared (IR) (to allow the equipment to go into an on mode), monitoring internet protocol (IP) wake-up, and a chip that has wakeup events.
For television sets and set top boxes there are two different types of standby. The one described is often called “passive standby” while there is another called “active standby”. The active standby is similar to the state when the equipment is powered on. The difference between active standby and powered on states is that the screen (or display output in the case of the set top box) is inactive.